Power BI Fundamentals for Report Creators
Give new report creators a practical, structured introduction to Power BI. In the standard one-day format, your team will connect and clean business data, build a simple semantic model, create useful measures and develop an interactive report.
- Explain how source data, Power Query, semantic models, reports and sharing fit together in Power BI.
- Connect to Excel, CSV or another common business data source.
- Correct data types, remove common data-quality issues and shape a simple table in Power Query.
- Create a straightforward semantic model with appropriate relationships.
New users need more than a tour of buttons and features. They need to understand the complete reporting workflow and leave with something they can use. This course takes participants from familiar business data through Power Query, a straightforward semantic model, basic measures and an interactive two-page report.
The emphasis is on practical workplace application. Participants make decisions, correct common data-quality issues and build the report themselves with guidance from an experienced specialist instructor.
Participants work through one end-to-end business reporting case study rather than a series of disconnected demonstrations, using a realistic dataset with deliberate data-quality issues, a guided Power Query clean-up, a semantic-model relationship exercise, a report-building challenge and a quality checklist covering clarity, filtering, accessibility and publishing readiness. The business scenario can be adapted to the team’s roles and objectives without changing the approved course architecture.
Right for your team if…
- Analysts and reporting staff who need a structured starting point.
- Finance and operations teams moving toward more repeatable reporting.
- Business users who work with Excel or CSV data but do not yet build Power BI reports.
- Teams that want a shared foundation before progressing to deeper modeling, DAX or certification readiness.
What participants will be able to do
- Build basic measures and distinguish a measure from a source column.
- Create and format clear visuals, slicers, filters and report-page interactions.
- Publish a report and explain the basic considerations for sharing and refresh.
A tangible outcome they take back to work
A usable two-page Power BI report built end to end, plus a completed report-quality checklist.
What we cover
- Understand the roles of Power BI Desktop and the Power BI service; Navigate the main Desktop views; Trace the route from source data to a report that can be shared.
Open the course file, identify the main views and trace the reporting workflow.
- Connect to common files; Correct data types and remove errors and blanks; Rename fields; Apply simple split, replace and filter steps in Power Query.
Clean a small sales-and-targets dataset in Power Query.
- Create introductory one-to-many relationships; Distinguish fact and lookup tables; Organize a small model so it is ready for reporting.
Relate sales, products and dates and validate the model.
- Build a small set of basic DAX measures for totals, counts and simple ratios; Understand when to use a measure rather than a source column.
Create revenue, order count and margin measures for the case study.
- Choose appropriate visuals and apply clear formatting; Add slicers and filters and configure interactions; Create summary and detail report pages.
Build a two-page operational report with summary and detail views.
- Publish to the Power BI service where access allows; Distinguish the report from its semantic model; Review basic sharing routes; Understand refresh and gateway considerations at an introductory level.
Publish or simulate publication, review the service objects and complete a report-quality checklist.
How it runs
This is live, instructor-led private training for one organization. Live virtual delivery, with scheduling arranged around client requirements. Recommended cohort size of up to eight participants to protect hands-on support. The Extended Practice Format adds supported practice, a second report challenge or approved client-data work, with the additional practice time scoped in the proposal. Practice files and completed fallback files are supplied for the course exercises. Before every cohort, a brief pre-course diagnostic confirms roles, existing experience, Windows and service access, accessibility needs, any approved client materials, the appropriate fallback route and the adaptation that can be included within scope.
We adapt the agenda, pace, examples and exercises to the team's existing knowledge, roles and objectives. The proposal will state what adaptation is included and identify any substantial custom development separately.
Scope and progression
What this course focuses on
Fundamentals is designed to create a reliable first capability. It does not attempt to compress the advanced curriculum into one day. The following areas belong in later training.
Reserved for other courses
- Complex data modeling, many-to-many design and advanced relationship behavior.
- Deep DAX, evaluation context, iterators, time intelligence and optimization.
- Row-level security implementation and detailed workspace administration.
- Deployment pipelines, enterprise governance and performance tuning.
- PL-300 exam strategy or blueprint-driven certification preparation.
Progression
Other courses in this pathway
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Power BI Data Analyst Exam Readiness
Prepare experienced Power BI users to identify and close the gaps that matter for the Microsoft PL-300 exam. Diagnostics, targeted review, applied scenarios and a personal readiness plan keep the course focused on evidence rather than generic revision.
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Power BI Data Modeling, DAX and Advanced Reporting
Take your team from functional reports to robust, maintainable Power BI solutions. Over two days, existing report creators design proper star-schema models, master DAX evaluation context and time intelligence, diagnose and fix performance, implement row-level security, and build advanced, usable reports.
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Power BI for Excel Users
Move your team from spreadsheet-and-PivotTable reporting into Power BI. In one day, confident Excel users connect familiar workbook data, translate formulas and PivotTables into reusable measures, build a simple semantic model, and rebuild a familiar report as an interactive Power BI solution.
Common questions
Do participants need previous Power BI experience?
No. This course is designed for people who are new to Power BI report creation. Participants should be comfortable using Windows and understand basic spreadsheet concepts.
Is this the right course for experienced Excel users?
It can be, but confident Excel, PivotTable, Power Query or Power Pivot users may gain more from Power BI for Excel Users, which moves faster and makes the transition from familiar Excel concepts explicit.
Can the course be adapted to our team?
We adapt the agenda, pace, examples and exercises to the team’s existing knowledge, roles and objectives. The proposal will state what adaptation is included and identify any substantial custom development separately.
Can we use our own data?
A client dataset may be used where it is suitable, secure and supplied early enough for review. Substantial data preparation, new dataset development or a client-specific exercise build will be scoped separately.
What if some participants use Macs?
Participants need access to a supported Windows environment for Power BI Desktop. Before delivery, we can agree a client-managed virtual desktop, a hosted Windows option or a trainer-demonstration fallback with completed exercise files.
Is this a certification-preparation course?
No. This is a skills-based course focused on practical report creation. Experienced users who specifically want certification preparation should consider Power BI Data Analyst Exam Readiness after they have developed solid Power BI capability.
Plan a cohort for your team
Tell us what your team needs to achieve. We will recommend the right course, cohort structure and schedule, then provide a clear private-training proposal.